Colombo: India on Thursday said it has achieved an important milestone by constructing 16,000 houses in Sri Lanka during 2014, meeting the target set for the year.

"With the achievement of this important milestone, a total of 27,000 houses have been constructed or repaired under this project till date. During 2014, 14,555 new houses were constructed under the project in the Northern Province, and 1,447 in the Eastern Province," the Indian High Commission said in a statement.

The government of India in 2010 had announced that it would construct 50,000 houses as part of post-conflict rehabilitation efforts.

The project was implemented as full grant assistance amounting to USD 250 million (approximately SLR 30 billion) from the Government of India, making it one of the largest grant assistance projects ever undertaken by India overseas.

Under the pilot phase of the project, which in July 2012, the Government of India helped construct 1,000 houses for beneficiaries in the Northern Province.

The second phase, launched in October 2012, aims to construct or repair 45,000 houses in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

With the completion of 26,000 houses under the second phase, 19,000 houses remain to be constructed or repaired under this phase, which is expected to be completed by end of this year.

The preparatory work for the third phase of the Indian Housing Project, which involves construction of 4,000 houses for estate workers in the Central and Uva Provinces, has already commenced, and actual construction is expected to start in mid-2015, the Indian High Commission said.